I used 4 ply's of 1/8" ash, 5/8" high,only the vertical strips are glassed. Without a doubt, overbuilt but I can pick the boat up by the coaming ring. I tried to pick up a friends fiberglass boat the same way, before I could clear the ground, I could hear the glass cracking.

Greg

: Just to make the decision a little tougher...

: Oak doesn't bend well; you might try bending a test strip to make sure one of
: your "good" strips doesn't break when you go around the sharp
: curve at the back of the coaming. You could consider steaming them. Clamp
: them in place one at a time at the middle of the back of the cockpit.
: Place a damp rag over the strip and steam it with a hot household iron.
: The strip will become much less rigid and you can iron the strip around
: the coaming riser. If you used hot melt glue to hold the riser strips
: together, make sure you don't get that riser too hot!!

: You don't want any less than 1/2"--3/4" is a "nice"
: height.

: 5/8" is a pretty good width; 7/16" is a little tall. If you're
: fiberglassing the coaming, you don't need more than 1/4" of wood
: there. You really just need the lip under the wood to retain your
: sprayskirt bungie.

: 7/16" wide strips will be easier to keep aligned while you're bending
: them together around the riser. If it looks too tall to you after it's
: glued up, don't be afraid to sand off a good bit of the total height--it
: won't do you much good after the installation of the lip.

: I plan to use 1/4" strips, but I'll install them one at a time to keep
: them aligned better.

: Food for thought: commercial fiberglass coamings are less than 1/8"
: thick and they really hold the sprayskirt well.

: Shawn